It was a fantastic first year on the ice for Steinbach's Brooklyn Driedger of the Assiniboine Cougars, who claimed silver at the ACHA Division 2 College Hockey National Championship.
Reflecting on the year, Driedger is thrilled with how things went both on and off the ice. "It was awesome, I had the time of my life," she says beaming. "Playing with the Cougars was a lot of fun, it was a great group of girls and it was a really great experience."
Making the jump to college hockey is never easy and for Driedger, she admits it took a little time to get comfortable. "It was an adjustment, for sure. It took some time but eventually, you get used to it. There's a crazy amount of talent in college, but you kind of get used to it."
How Driedger became a Cougar was a somewhat smooth process, according to the Steinbach product. "I got a text from one of my old coaches, he told me the head coach wanted to reach out to me. They asked if I wanted to come to the identification skate in Brandon, I went out and I got offered a spot on the team."
Thinking back to that camp, Driedger recalls being a bit intimidated with just how much talent was out there. "Oh, 100%," the star defender says with a chuckle. "It was quite intimidating, but I gave it everything I had in the skate and it kind of worked out for me."
Another big adjustment for Driedger was changing the style of her natural game to suit the team needs. "I've worked on being more defensive. In AA, I was much more of an offensive defenseman. Coming here, it took an adjustment to be more on the defensive side, but I worked hard and it came pretty naturally."
Going from being a point producer to a two-way defender wasn't easy for Driedger at the start, but she wouldn't change anything now. "It was tough mentally at the start, but you eventually develop a voice in your head telling you to stay back and be more defensive. Thankfully, it all came pretty easy after a while and it really rounded out my game."
Being a rookie can be overwhelming, but Driedger says she couldn't have asked for a better group to look out for her and the other first years. "Honestly, it's been so easy. There are only four rookies, but the girls that were returning were so welcoming. We became a family quite quickly, it was an amazing group of girls. It made the transition so much easier."
Driedger says that being a new Cougar also comes with having to do things like 'Rookie Idol', a mini-concert where first year players pick a song and have to sing in front of their veteran teammates, a fun tradition which she really enjoyed. "We had such a blast, I sang 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift. It's one of those team building things that can bring a group together, it was fun."
The grind of the schedule also took some getting used to for Driedger. "There's a lot of hard work that goes into it on and off the ice. Dry-land, practice, any time I could give it my all, I tried. It was honestly so much fun being on the ice, especially on the national stage. We put in a lot of hard work and it paid off."
That national tournament experience, especially as a rookie, is something Driedger really cherishes and will use as motivation going forward. "We all gave it our all during that event. We may have come up short, but we learned so much about being one as a group, working through tough games and it'll pay off. It makes us want to get back there and get to the top. All the returning girls, we've already talked about it, we want to get back and finish the job off."
Summer is not rest time for Driedger, who's looking forward to taking a bigger role and more leadership with the Cougars next season. "Lots of off-ice work. In the gym a lot, I'll try and get on the ice as much as I can, anywhere I can. I want to put in the work now to be ready for next season."
Driedger is also very proud of where women's hockey is going and how programs like the Cougars are giving young women an opportunity to play elite hockey and get an elite education. "It's just so amazing that there are so many programs that offer women's hockey programs. There are great people to look up to, we try and get into the community as much as we can. We want to show young girls that there are options outside of minor hockey."